Cane stripper



v. L. AND T. COVEY.

CANE STRIPPER- APPLICA'TION FILED MAR. 9, 1921.

1,424,9 9, Patented Aug. 8, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

v'. L, AND T. COVEY.

CANE-STRIPPER. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 9, I921.

Patented Aug. 1922:

ia-aaeea.

VICTQB L. COVEY, OF TELL CITY,

INDIANA, .Ann TUNA covEY, or LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

CANE .STRIPPER.

Application filed March 9,

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Vroron L. GovnY and. TONA CovnY, citizens of the United States, residing at Tell City, in the'county of Perry and State of Tndiana', and'Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and Statev of Kentucky, respectively, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cane Strippers, of which'the followingis a specification.

Our invention seeks to'providemeans which may be readily connected with a grinding mill and whereby the leaves of sorghum or sugar cane may be stripped from the stal {S and the stripping and grinding performed in one single continuous operation so that time and'laborwill be saved. The invention also seeks to provide a mechanism for the stated purpose which will effectually guide the stalks to thestripper blades and hold them in such position that the leaves will be effectually engaged and stripped from the stalks, a still further obj ect of the invention being to provide means whereby the stripper blades will be prevent ed from injuring the operator or attendant. A stillfurther object'of the invention is to provide means whereby the leaves stripped from the stalks will be prevented from accumulating and will be driven off in such a, manner that they may be easily collected and utilized as fodder or in other ways. The invention further seeks to provide an apparatus having the stated characteristics which will be simple in construction, compact in arrangement and strong and du rable.

The invention is illustrated inthe accompanying drawings and will be hereinafter fully described, the novel features being subsequently particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

in the drawings- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine embodying our improvements;

' 2 is a similar view showing the opposite side of the machine;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section;

Fig. 1 is a plan view.

In carrying out our invention, we employ sills 1 which are shown as secured't o supporting posts or standards 2. Side plates 3 are secured to the sills so that the mechanism will be enclosed and injury to the working parts or to the operator will be th reby avoided. Short standards t a Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Alli 8, 1922.

1921. Serial No. 451,033. I

erected upon the sills 1 and beams 5 are carried by the upper ends of the said standards and the posts 2, as shown, extension plates 5 being secured to the beams and adapted to be bolted to the frame of a grinding mill. The top' plate 6 is secured upon the beams 5 and cross bars or braces 7 extend between the posts and the sills to provide the requisite rigidity and strengtln The top plate 6 is provided with an opening 8 through which the feeding rollers 9 and 10 may engage the stal s and in rear of the said opening a plurality of longitudinal slots 11 is provided in the top plate, as shown. The machine is intended to be placed in juxtaposition to the grinding mill and the stalks are fed over the plate 6 and pass from the said plate directly between the grinding rollers, indicated at 12 in Fig. 1. The lower feedingroller 10 is carried by a shaft 13 which is mounted in suitable bearings upon the sides of the frame and is equipped at one end with a sprocket gear 14 around which and a sprocket pinion 15 on the stripper shaft 16 is trained a sprocket chain 17. The sprocket pinion 15 should be wide enough to accommodate two sprocket chains and achain 18 is trained around the same and also around a sprocket 19'on the shaft 20 carrying the upper feed r'oller; As shown in Fig. 1, the chain '18 will be long enough to be somewhat sla ckin one of its runs so that it will accommodate the relative vertical'movement of the upper feed roller. The said upper feed roller is supported by arms or levers 21 having suitable bearings at their rear ends to receive the ends of the shaft 20 and having their front ends pivoted to the top plate 6, as indicated at 22. A spring 23 is attached to each arm 21 and Xtends downwardly therefrom through an opening 24 in the top plate and is secured at its lower end to the supportin frame whereby the arms are normally lield toward the top plate so that the feed roller will exert the desired pressure upon the stalks to efiect the feeding operation. The springs, however, will permit the upper feed roller to yield to the stalks accordin to the diameters thereof so that there wil be no premature crushing of the stalks by the rollers, gagement with the rollers will be effected and the cane fed to the strippers. It will be noted that both feed rollers are positively driven so that neither roller exerts a drag but at the same time a positive enon the cane and, therefore, the cane will be fed smoothly and evenly to the strippers and the grinding mill. Immediately in front of the feeding rollers, weprovide upon the top plate a transverse series of pins 25 which correspond in number to the slotsll and are respectively alined with said slots. These pins serve to space the stalks as they are fed to the feeding rollers and guide them to the spaces between the slots 11 so that the stalks cannot assume positions oblique to the table or top plate but will be fed over the table parallel with and between the said slots.

The stripper shaft 16 is j ournaled inv suitable bearings upon the frame helowthe slots 11 and the stripper is carried by said shaft. The stripper comprises a drum, roller, or cylinder 26 and a plurality of knives or blades 27secured toand radiating from the said drum or cylinder. The blades or knives are of such length that as the stripper is rotated the blades will successively pass up through the respective slots 11 and act upon the cane so as to strip theleaves from the stalks. There should be at least four blades in the'vertical plane of each slot so that therewill be no time in the operation of the machine when there will not be a portion'of some blade projecting through each slot. The blades will, therefore, serve not only to remove the, leaves from the stalks but will alsoyserve to prevent the stalks slipping sideways and will guide them in longitudinal parallel planes over the table top into the grinding mill. Secured upon the table top over the stripper is a hood 28 which will positively prevent the hands or clothing of the operator coming into contact with the blades and injury to the operator is thereby avoided. The said hood decreases in height toward its rear end, as indicated at 29, and

the rear portion of the hood, therefore, serves as a positive guide to present the stalks to the grinding rollers in a horizontal plane and without launching.

The stripper, is also enclosed by a casing 30 and upon the end of the stripper shaft,

remote from the sprocket pinion 15, we sc cure a sprocket '31 around which is. trained a chain 32 which is also trained around a pinion 33 on the fanshaft 34. At the opposite end of the fan shaft is a pulley to 'whi'ch power is applied from the grinding mill through a belt 36, will be readily understood: The fan shaftfit is disposed somewhat in advance of the front wall of the casing and in one side of said casing is an opening 37 which establishes communication between the casing 30 and the-fan casing38. A fan 39 of; any preferred construction is secured upon the fan shaft within the, casing 38 and. in operation creates a blast downwardly through the slots 11 and the casing. 30: so-thatthe leaves; will be held to the slots 11 in position to beeasily engaged by the stripper blades and effectually presented to said rollers with their larger ends foremost. The stalks are arranged so that one stalk will pass between each two adjacent pins 25 and will be gripped by and between the feed rollers and drawn forward to the stripper. As the travel of the stalks over the table continues, the stripper blades will be brought successively against the stems of'the leaves close to the stalks and will cut through saidstems so as to sever the leaves from the stalks.

the stalks continues, their ends will pass into the grinding mill and they will then be ground and subsequently treated in the usual manner. It will be readily noted that we have provided a very compact, inexpensive and easily operated machine whereby the stalks may be stripped at the same time that they are groundso that time and labor now required to strip the leaves: by hand are I saved. Moreover, the quality of the syrup is improved inasmuch as the stalks are not stored after being cut or harvested until some convenient time when they may be groundybut the grinding is effected immediately following the stripping. I

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is: I y

In an apparatus for the purpose .set forth, the combination of a table top having a transverse series of longitudinal slots therein and a transverse slot in advance of the longitudinal slots, a transverse series of rigid pins rising'from the'table top adjacent and in advance of the transverse slot and alined with the respectivelongitudinal slots, 00- operating upper and lower feeding rollers mounted respectively above and below the table top in, the vertical. plane of the transverse slot, a rotatable stripper mounted-be low the table top, blades carried byv said stripper playing through the longitudinal slots in the table top, a hood secured upon the table top and housing the blades, the

front and rear ends of said'hood being open and the rear end contracted. and means for 7 operating the stripper and the feed rollers.-

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures.

VICTOR L. COVEY, his] TUNA COVEY. 

